Faster bus travel spells more commuters

The traffic situation in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta was similar to our national Capital. With car growth rate greater than the increase in road capacity (1.6 million cars in 2005 with car ownership growing by 10% every year, road growth at 1%), fast urbanisation led to traffic congestion and longer commutes.

The traffic situation in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta was similar to our national Capital. With car growth rate greater than the increase in road capacity (1.6 million cars in 2005 with car ownership growing by 10% every year, road growth at 1%), fast urbanisation led to traffic congestion and longer commutes.

Indonesian authorities decided to implement a bus rapid transit system named TransJakarta, which began operations in January 2004. TransJakarta was designed to provide citizens a fast public transport to reduce rush-hour traffic.

The buses run in special lanes and ticket prices are subsidised. In 2011, TransJakarta carried 115 million passengers which was an increase of 32% from the 87 million passengers in 2010. Currently it has the world’s longest BRT routes (172 km in length). HTC